Winemaker Notes
Blend: 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Malbec, 6% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Deeper, rich, and more concentrated, the 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve is a blend of 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Malbec, and 5% Petit Verdot that spent 22 months in new French oak. There’s 700 cases of this terrific 2015 and it has awesome purity in its crème de cassis, blueberries, scorched earth, dark chocolate, and smoky aromas and flavors. Deep, full-bodied, beautifully textured and showing the concentration, richness and breadth of the vintage, it has the fruit to drink well today but will be even better in 3-4 years and keep for two decades.
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Vinous
The 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve is a huge, full-throttle wine. Inky dark fruit, graphite, and sweet oak are dialed up. Overall, the 2015 has aged well. The presence of high-impact barrels from coopers like Darnajou marks the wine to a significant degree. All things considered, the 2015 has aged impeccably. It will drink well for another decade.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve is inky purple-black colored and closed to begin, opening out to baked blackberries and preserved plums with hints of mocha, tar and chargrill plus a waft of wild thyme. Full, firm and a little hard in the mouth, it has a good core of muscular, savory fruit with just enough freshness and a long finish.
One of the most prestigious wines of the world capable of great power and grace, Napa Valley Cabernet is a leading force in the world of fine, famous, collectible red wine. Today the Napa Valley and Cabernet Sauvignon are so intrinsically linked that it is difficult to discuss one without the other. But it wasn’t until the 1970s that this marriage came to light; sudden international recognition rained upon Napa with the victory of the Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon in the 1976 Judgement of Paris.
Cabernet Sauvignon undoubtedly dominates Napa Valley today, covering half of the land under vine, commanding the highest prices per ton and earning the most critical acclaim. Cabernet Sauvignon’s structure, acidity, capacity to thrive in multiple environs and ability to express nuances of vintage make it perfect for Napa Valley where incredible soil and geographical diversity are found and the climate is perfect for grape growing. Within the Napa Valley lie many smaller sub-AVAs that express specific characteristics based on situation, slope and soil—as a perfect example, Rutherford’s famous dust or Stags Leap District's tart cherry flavors.